Long-term relationships between reconstructed seasonal mass balance at Peyto Glacier, Canada, and Pacific sea surface temperatures

Tree-ring based mass balance reconstructions developed for Peyto Glacier, Alberta, Canada are compared with measured conditions in the Pacific Ocean over the last century and, using reconstructions of Pacific climate indices, over the past ∼300 years, at interannual and decadal-interdecadal timescales. Tree-ring reconstructed winter balance totals at Peyto Glacier in La Niña, negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and La Niña/negative PDO years significantly exceed those in El Niño, positive PDO and El Niño/positive PDO years, respectively. The same phase pairings of reconstructed summer mass balance do not differ significantly. These findings confirm those seen in the measured mass balance records and shorter (100 years) tree-ring and instrumental climate record-based reconstructions, suggesting similar relationships have existed over the past ∼300 years. Maps showing the regression of Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on the seasonal mass balance series indicates that both winter and, albeit more weakly, summer mass balance series are related to ENSO-like patterns of SST variability in the Pacific Ocean at both interannual and interdecadal timescales

Climatology · Dendrochronology · El Niño Southern Oscillation · Geography · Glacier · Glacier mass balance · Pacific decadal oscillation · Physical geography · Sea surface temperature · Climate variability and models · Cryospheric studies and observations · Environmental Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Geology · Oceanography

• Tree-ring-based reconstructions of North American glacier mass balance through the Little Ice Age — Contemporary warming transition

  Open Access•Nathan Malcomb, Nathan L Malcomb et al.•Quaternary Research•2013

  Add to list

• Reduced accuracy in dendroglaciological mass balance reconstruction of Storglaciären since the 1980s

  Open Access•Niklas Werner, Salome Oehler et al.•The Holocene•2023

  Add to list

• Dendroglaciological reconstruction of late-Holocene glacier activity at White and South Flat glaciers, Boundary Range, northern British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

  Open Access•Kate Johnson, Dan J Smith•The Holocene•2012

  Add to list

• Landscape and Climate Change in the Central Canadian Rockies During the 20th Century

  Open Access•Brian H Luckman•Canadian Geographies /…•1998

  Add to list